The present invention relates to a lens processing system for processing a lens and a lens stocking device for stocking lenses.
In eyeglass lenses, for example, the processing of lenses, which has conventionally been performed individually at optician's shops, has in recent years come to be performed intensively at a processing center. In the processing center, a multiplicity of lenses are processed intensively in response to orders from optician's shops. In this intensive processing, it is desired that labor saving (automation) be attained as practically as possible in a series of steps related to lens processing. For this reason, a lens processing system has been proposed in which an unprocessed lens is taken out from a lens accommodating tray or the like, is conveyed, and is set in a lens processing device, and a processed lens is taken out from the processing device, is conveyed, and is placed (returned) on the tray or the like.
A conventional lens processing system is constructed such that, for instance, trays with lenses accommodated thereon are conveyed by a belt conveyor, and a lens is taken out from the tray by a robot hand device, is conveyed, and is set in the processing device. For this reason, the system becomes large in scale, and a large installation space is required for the overall system. In particular, in a case where a plurality of processing devices are installed (systematized), the procesing devices are installed around the robot hand device having a swiveling-type arm, so that a large space is required. In addition, it has not been easy to install and move the overall lens processing system. Furthermore, there has been a demand for efficiently stocking lenses and lens accommodating trays for the purpose of processing and in terms of space.